[Diy_efi] American Hero

[philo at wayfarer1.com]

>
You said it first it is not FI, so please refrain from sending spam on
this forum.

 I know this is not FI related, but men like this make me proud!!!!
>
>
>
>
>
> Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored  the
> uniform he wears.
> Meet Brian Chontosh.
> Churchville-Chili Central  School class of 1991. Proud graduate of the
> Rochester Institute of Technology.  Husband and about-to-be father. First
> lieutenant   (now Captain) in  the United States Marine Corps.
> And a genuine hero.
> The secretary of the  Navy said so yesterday.
> At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was  presented with the Navy
> Cross,
> the second highest award for combat bravery the  United States can bestow.
> That's a big deal.
> But you won't see it on the  network news tonight, and all you read in
> Brian's hometown newspaper was two  paragraphs of nothing. The odd fact
> about the American media in this war  is that it's not covering the
> American
> military. The most plugged-in nation in  the world is receiving virtually
> no
> true information about what its warriors are  doing.
> Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have  fallen.
> And
> we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're  almost on
> a
> first-name basis with the jerks  who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And  we
> know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and
> what  Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.
>
> We get a  non-stop feed of gloom and doom.
> But we don't hear about the heroes.
> The  incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our
> grandparents  would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.
> The ones we  completely ignore.
> Like Brian Chontosh.
>
> It was a year ago on the march  into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon
> leader rolling up Highway 1 in a  humvee.
> When all hell broke loose.
> Ambush city.
> The young Marines were  being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns,
> rocket
> propelled grenades. And the  kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was
> do
> or die and it was up to  him.
> So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men
> to
> safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came
> under direct enemy machine gun fire.
> It was fish in a barrel and the Marines  were the fish.
>
> And Brian Chontosh gave the  order to attack. He told his driver to floor
> the humvee directly at the machine  gun emplacement that was firing at
> them.
> And he had the guy on top with the .50  cal unload on them.
> Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the  machine gun and
> Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take  the humvee
> directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over  into
> the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed,
> carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
> And he ran  down the trench.
> With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and  grenadiers.
> And he killed them all.
> He fought with the M16 until it was  out of ammo. Then he fought with the
> Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he  picked up a dead man's AK47 and
> fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then  he picked up another dead
> man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of  ammo.
>
> At one point he even  fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster,
> sending attackers flying with  its grenade explosion.
> When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards  of entrenched
> Iraqis
> from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and  wounded at least
> as many more.
> But that's probably not how he would tell  it.
> He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got
> them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.
>
> "By his outstanding  display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in
> the face of heavy enemy  fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt.
> Chontosh
> reflected great credit upon  himself and upheld the highest traditions of
> the Marine Corps and the United  States Naval Service."
>
> That's what the citation says.
> And that's what  nobody will hear.
> That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news.  Accounts of
> American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet  accounts of
> American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you  wonder if
> the role of the media is to inform  or to depress - to report or to
> deride.
> To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.
> But I guess it doesn't  matter.
> We're going to turn out all right.
> As long as men like Brian  Chontosh wear our uniform.
>
>
>
> If you are as proud of this Marine as I am, then send this to EVERYONE YOU
> KNOW !!
>
>
>
> Jack
> 70 Half-Cab
> Northeast Oregon
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Randy
>
>
>
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